A Rocky Relationship
by distel
Summary: PART TWO OF THE WRP SAGA - They had a rocky relationship, to say the least. It ranged from misunderstanding over anger and tolerance to respect but real understanding never passed between Martha and the TARDIS.


Part 2 of my **Weird Red Plante Saga** Set a few weeks after part one.

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They had a rocky relationship, to say the least. It ranged from misunderstanding over anger and tolerance to respect but real understanding never passed between Martha and the TARDIS.

When she had first started travelling with the Doctor, the TARDIS had been the last thing on her mind. She had only just discovered the reality of Time and Space! How could she worry about a spaceship with these things to figure out?

Not to mention that, at first, she was never meant to stay longer. Yes, of course she had somehow sensed that the TARDIS was special. I mean, hello, bigger on the inside! You don't see that everyday! But apart from that? Well, she was a spaceship. She was able to travel through time. That was as vague as Martha got when it came to understanding the TARDIS.

She tried, she really did! No one was allowed to say that she didn't care about something that was as important to the Doctor as his ship. But something had always come between that process. Them getting to know each other. It had taken Martha so long to accept that the blue box was not only a collection of fitting pieces, but that it was alive! iThey are grown/i, the Doctor had once told her and that seemed weird enough to her. But she had tried and at some point, she was sure that she felt that the TARDIS tried, too. Tried to make it easier for her.

But they never got far enough. The Family of Blood had happened and for a long time, Martha had been so angry at the TARDIS. She had been the one to place them in this time, to invent John Smiths life story. She had made her the maid. Oh yes, she had been angry.

She had felt that the TARDIS was as irritated by her as she was but they had both, grudgingly, tolerated each other, for the Doctor's sake.

Their relationship had changed again, during the year that never was. Martha could only start to imagine what the TARDIS had to endure at the Masters hands and still she came out of it glowing as brightly green as ever. Martha found, to her surprise, that she had a big chunk of respect stored away for the vessel. And, so it seemed, the TARDIS was impressed by what she did during that year, too. Respect had grown between them both.

They would never like each other, never really understand the other, but that was all right. Martha had always figured that it was like this with the TARDIS and the Doctor's companions. That no one was really able to understand the bloody-minded ship - except the Doctor. She was able to live with that.

But it seemed, she had been wrong.

They were still stranded on the weird, deformed planet whose name she wasn't able to pronounce, the TARDIS was packed to the brim. Jack was there, having joined them for a little while again. Of course, Donna was there, still not fed up with the surprises the universe could offer, still as spunky and blunt as before. Martha couldn't imagine the Doctor without her any more.

They had found Jenny again and for that, Martha was more than grateful. It had given the Doctor a new spark to see his daughter of a few months skip over to them with light steps and a mischievous smirk on her lips.

What she, herself, was doing on board the TARDIS yet again was still not exactly clear to her. The Doctor had been the one to show up on her doorstep, asking her to accompany him and who was she to say no. What he wanted from her, she still didn't know. The newest addiction to the TARDIS had appeared and for the last two days, things had been different in the ship.

Martha did not resent Rose, not in the slightest. She found her to be wonderful and enjoyable company. At least, after Rose had been able to get into the Doctor's sometimes surprisingly thick scull and they had started to sort out whatever they were sorting out. Martha thought it best not to get in the way.

No, she really had nothing to make her dislike Rose except ... Rose seemed to have managed what she never could.

From her place high above the TARDIS' console, she watched Rose make her way along the countless buttons and gears. One of her hands lightly traced the ships exterior with a gentleness Martha had only seen in the Doctor before. Martha was nearly sure she felt the TARDIS hum quietly and Rose smiled in response. It was painfully obvious that Rose and the TARDIS shared a bond. Not like the Doctor and his ship - that was certainly impossible. But they seemed to understand each other, to communicate in a way that Martha never had been able to and she was quiet sure Donna hadn't experienced something like that, either.

iOne other thing to add to the list "Things Rose is better at"/i, Martha thought with a slight sigh. No, she wasn't exactly angry or sad. It was just difficult for her to see exactly how lost her battle for the Doctors affection had been from the beginning.

"You're special, too, you know that, right?" Though Martha was surprised to hear a voice behind her, she no longer flinched. She was inside the TARDIS, what could happen to her here? She turned her head and was not surprised to see the Doctor sitting behind her. She gave him a smile.

"Thank you."


End file.
